Tag Archives: Father-Son Birding

Birding Japan: Kyoto

Since we published them, our birding posts about Japan have been read in more than a dozen countries. If you are planning your own trip to Japan, you’re in luck! Sneed’s new book, FIRST-TIME JAPAN: A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE FOR THE INDEPENDENT TRAVELER, tells you everything you need to know about how to plan your trip to this remarkable, yet sometimes intimidating, country. Order now by clicking here.

Welcome to Part 3 of Sneed’s recent Japan adventure. If you missed the first couple of Japan posts, start here. As always, we appreciate your interest, and please share these with anyone you think will enjoy them.

Our journey to Kyoto gave us one last chance to ride the Enoshima Electric Railway, the adorable little train Tessa and I both fell in love with during our long, rainy weekend in Kamakura. In fact, Japan’s train system is so well thought-out that we simply rode the EER to the end of the line in Fujisowa to catch the Tokaido train to Odawara. There, we boarded the shinkansen (bullet train) for the two-hour ride to Kyoto. Easy peasy. I have to say, however, that Kyoto Station was quite a bit more confusing than Tokyo or any of the other stations we’d visited, but fortunately I knew which subway to catch to our accommodation, a rather modern version of a traditional Japanese inn, or ryokan. As far as I can tell, there’s no perfect location to stay in Kyoto, but our place was only an 8-10 minute walk to two different subway stations. Even better, it was close to what turned out to be a wonderful birding spot, the Kamo River—a place that Tessa and I would return to several times.

Our first look at Kyoto’s Kamo River convinced us to return as often as possible. Kyoto’s birds felt the same way!

Our first full day in Kyoto, I planned for us to visit Fushimi Inari Taisha, a shrine famous for its hundreds (thousands?) of red “torii” gates straddling the paths leading up the mountain. Conveniently, to catch the train to the shrine, we got to walk along the Kamo River. It was a glorious day and many others were out enjoying the sunshine and blooming sakura trees. For my part, I also couldn’t help noticing a lot of birds enjoying the relatively unkempt river bed—including a real surprise, Common Merganser, a duck that we often see in our rivers in Montana!

A pair of Common Mergansers greatly surprised me in Kyoto.

We finished Fushimi Inari Taisha early enough that we decided to go ahead and visit Kyoto’s Imperial Palace and the surrounding Kyoto Gyoen National Garden. The palace was impressively, well, palatial and I was hoping for some excellent birding in the gardens. The over-manicured park, however, once again limited its attractiveness to only the hardiest of species. I did run into a nice little mixed flock that contained a Warbling White-eye, Long-tailed Tit, and my lifer Japanese Bush Warbler, but have to say that I was disappointed overall. Nothing that a big bowl of steaming hot ramen at Ichiran Ramen didn’t cure!

As Kyoto’s Imperial Palace demonstrates, Japanese architects knew what they were doing. If only the places hadn’t burned down every 20 or 30 years!

The next morning, after hitting Kyoto Station to reserve shinkansen tickets for the upcoming legs of our trip, we rode a JR local train out to Arashiyama. Tessa had especially been wanting to visit a bamboo grove, and a large, famous one grew here. We also visited Kameyama Park, located at the mouth of the Katsura River gorge. The sakura were especially wonderful here and, well, the birds turned out to be pretty great, too! As we strolled the gorgeous grounds, I saw a Warbling White-eye and the complete triumvirate of tits: Japanese, Varied, and Long-tailed. Just saying the word “tit” provokes giggles but these birds are essentially the Old World version of chickadees. They look like chickadees. They behave like chickadees. Just as in the States, if you see a tit, chances are other interesting birds are lurking nearby, so I am always happy to spot one.

Kameyama Park is the only place I managed to convince Tessa to give the peace sign for a photo—something almost mandatory for the Japanese!

Following the trails down to the river, we encountered a nice collection of ducks and my first-ever Japanese Wagtail and House Swift! By this time, large crowds had gathered to enjoy the sunshine and sights, so after a quick bite at a local food stand, we high-tailed it back to our ryokan. Our birding in Kyoto was not quite finished, however. I managed two more sessions at Kamo River, the final one the evening before our departure. Tessa was chilling in our room after a busy day of seeing Nijo Castle and the Manga Museum, and doing some gift shopping in Teramachi-dori, one of the expansive covered street malls that seem to be popular in Japan. I had some extra energy so decided on taking one last visit to the river.

My lifer Japanese Wagtail at Kameyama Park. I actually had probably seen one at the Kamo River earlier, but it took me a while to tease out the differences in markings with White Wagtails.

It was a lovely afternoon, and hundreds of Kyoto residents were out taking advantage of it. I walked downstream, enjoying the Black Kites flying overhead and Gray Herons, Great and Little Egrets, Great Cormorants, ducks, and Japanese and White Wagtails along the river. One thing I’d sorely missed on the trip were any kind of shorebirds, but suddenly I saw a suspicious bird standing on a rock across the river. From eBird quizzes I’d taken, I immediately guessed that my shorebird drought might be at an end and that this could be a Common Sandpiper. I was too far away to get a good look at the bill, though, and it seemed too short. That was good because it forced me to call up the Merlin app and dive deeper into the Common Sandpiper’s ID features. Two things stuck out: COSAs had a prominent white “spur” at the shoulder and they often bobbed their tails like wagtails. I again focused my binoculars. “Yep,” I said out loud. “That’s a Common Sandpiper!” Just a few minutes later I saw yet another bird sitting on a rock in the river—this one a Gray Wagtail, completing the “Wagtail Trilogy” for the trip. Neither the Common Sandpiper nor Gray Wagtail were lifers for me, but they brought my Japan bird list up to 47 species. More important, they were an awesome way to finish up our time in Kyoto.

Throughout Japan, I enjoyed Black Kites, but they put on a special show along the Kamo River.

More, much more, lay in store.

Sneed’s Kameyama Park eBird checklist.

Sneed’s final Kamo River eBird checklist.

Birding Japan: Kamakura by the Sea

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Welcome to the second installment of my birding reports from Japan. To read the first report, click here, and of course feel free to share these reports with others—and add your own experiences in the comments section. Thanks for reading!

As mentioned in my last post, one of my goals in birding Japan was to reach 1,000 bird species for my life list. I arrived in the country needing 31 species to hit that mark, but picked up only 13 new lifers during my daughter’s and my first three days in Tokyo. A day trip by bullet train, or shinkansen, to the northern town of Sendai added Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker and Varied Tit to my total, but I felt like the next stop on our itinerary, the seaside town of Kamakura, would have to perform better if I were to keep on pace.

Kamakura lies only about an hour by train from Tokyo and has earned a reputation as a weekend getaway and favorite place for surfing and other water sports. Anticipating that we might need a break after five days in the Big City, I had rented us a tiny apartment only two blocks from the beach, and as soon as we stepped off the train, the area enchanted us. The main train station sits adjacent to a vibrant street full of food and crafts shops, but to reach our lodging we had to hop on the cutest little train you can imagine, ride a few stops, and then roll our luggage a half a kilometer through a quirky little beach town that easily could have been on the Oregon Coast or in Southern California. While trying to find our accommodations, we crossed a little bridge over a canal when a scintillating blue flash caught my eye, followed by another. I didn’t get a great look, but knew immediately what they were—Common Kingfishers, one of my favorite birds and, as it turned out, the only time I got to see them on the trip.

The Island of Sodor? No, but the delightful Enoshima Electric Railway made us wonder!

We arrived at our apartment too early to check in so decided to sit in a children’s playground for a few minutes to rest and recover from our hectic travel morning. I felt eager to get out and find some birds, but there in the playground I didn’t have to. Instead, the birds came to me. First, a dove landed on a phone wire only a few yards away. My adrenaline surging, I whipped out my binoculars and sure enough, it was a lifer I had been hoping for: Oriental Turtle-Dove! Then, I espied a bluish bird flitting around on a nearby rooftop. Swallow or flycatcher? I thought to myself. Instead, I was surprised to identify another lifer I had desperately been wanting to see—a Blue Rock-Thrush. Right there in the playground, we were also joined by a Warbling White-eye and either Japanese or Varied Tits, though I didn’t get a great look at the latter.

**My lifer Oriental Turtle-Dove landed next to our lodging in Kamakura, and we were fortunate to also see them on Enoshima Island and other locations on our trip.**

Leaving our bags, Tessa and I walked down to the beach. Perhaps a hundred surfers crowded the two- to three-foot waves, and Tessa and I saw Carrion Crows and Black Kites for the first time on the trip, both species Braden and I had seen in Israel right before the pandemic.

I’m not sure what this Carrion Crow has in mind, but Tessa and I had great fun watching it and its colleagues on Kamakura’s beach.

Since the forecast called for a rainy weekend, we tore ourselves away from the beach and hiked a mile or so to Kamakura’s most famous attraction, the Great Buddha. This forty-foot-high bronze sculpture was completed around the year 1253, and truly impressed both of us. When we arrived, a rock pigeon perched comfortably atop the Buddha’s head, a fitting signal that the Buddha welcomed both of us! After taking the mandatory photos, we sat on a stone wall and chilled in the statue’s peaceful presence before grabbing an early dinner at a café and then checking into our residence.

**The Great Buddha, or Daibutsu, of Kamakura is apparently the second largest Buddha in Japan and harkens back to about 1252.**

We had plans to take a genuine forest hike in Kamakura, but unfortunately the weather forecast turned out to be all too true. Saturday, umbrellas in hand, we braved the Kamakura food street next to the station, but were forced back home by chilling wetness—though not without nabbing a box of fresh mini-donuts! Sunday, we took the cute little train down the coast to Enoshima, famous for its picturesque island just offshore. A short causeway connected the island to the mainland, and on the way across I spotted the trip’s first Eurasian Wigeons, a species Braden and I are lucky to see once a year in Montana. I was also surprised to find Herring Gulls sitting atop light posts.

A Herring Gull? In Japan? Apparently, the birds know a lot more about their distributions than I do.

Following a beautiful paved winding path up the island’s mountainous terrain, we encountered birds that were now becoming familiar to both of us including Brown-eared Bulbuls, White Wagtails, White-cheeked Starlings, Eurasian Tree Sparrows, and a trio of Oriental Turtle-Doves. The highlight of the day, however, turned out to be a small, gorgeous red shrine tucked away in the trees near the summit. It apparently is one of three shrines on the island collectively known as Enoshima Shrine, and it was built to worship the deities of fishing and sea transport. We weren’t sure what to do there, so I quickly texted Ryosuke, a Japanese foreign-exchange student who happens to be spending the year at Tessa’s high school and who had been tutoring me in Japanese. He quickly texted back instructions, and we paid our respects before heading back down the mountain. Thank you Ryosuke!

Don’t look into his eyes. Just move on slowly. Nothing to see here.

Lifer count for the weekend? A mere two species, making our next destination, Kyoto, essential for my evil plans to reach my life list millennium mark.

My Enoshima eBird Checklist.

Birding Japan: Tokyo, Part I

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Well, I warned you it would be a while before you heard from us again, but we hope you find the reasons acceptable. Braden has been chasing salamanders and frogs in Maine while I have spent the last three weeks with my daughter, Tessa, in Japan! We had dreamed of visiting the Land of the Rising Shopping Mall for many years, and the country and people delivered in every way. While birding was not the purpose of the trip, you might guess that I took advantage of every opportunity to get to know Japan’s avian wildlife—experiences I’d like to share in the next few posts, starting with the focal point of Japanese civilization, Tokyo.

**While disguised as a train station, Tokyo Station is actually a small city in itself—and the transportation hub for Birding Central HQ during our stay.**

While we planned to visit several Japanese locations, Tessa and I agreed that we wanted to spend the most time in Tokyo. Accordingly, we reserved five days there on the front end of the trip and four days to finish up our journey. Wrapping our heads around such an incredibly large and diverse city proved a challenge, but after much research I booked our first hotel near Tokyo Station. Mind you, this is no ordinary train station. Trains for hundreds of destinations come in and out of the place and the station itself is a vast, entertaining commercial complex featuring hundreds of shops and restaurants, many lined along extensive underground “streets”. The area also happened to make a pretty good headquarters to begin birding.

On our first day there, we worked in a visit to Hamarikyu Gardens in between Tsukiji Outer Market (former home of the famous tuna auctions) and Tokyo Tower. While Tessa enjoyed a park bench in the sun, I quickly snapped up six life birds including Eastern Spot-billed Duck, Common Pochard, Tufted Duck, Oriental Goldfinch, White-cheeked Starling, and Brown-eared Bulbul. I was especially taken with the bulbul—only to find that apparently it is the most commonly observed bird in Japan! Still, I didn’t let that dampen my enthusiasm for these noisy, beautiful birds.

**My first day of Japan birding, I was so excited to see my first Brown-eared Bulbul, a bird that I’d been studying assiduously. Little did I know that it’s probably the most common bird in Japan!**

Because of the 15-hour time difference with Montana, I woke at 3 a.m. the next day, and as soon as it got light I let Tessa sleep in and walked over to the Imperial Palace a few blocks away. The grounds were still closed, but I began exploring the moat around the walls and some potentially birdy parks across the street. Right away, I saw a Little Grebe, and then the discoveries grew even more exciting. I saw a small, greenish bird flitting around some bushes—another life bird, Warbling White-eye! Continuing my prowl, I discovered two more lifers—Falcated Duck and Dusky Thrush, two species I had studied intensively before the trip. They put me in a great mood before we went to watch the Yokohama BayStars defeat the Yomiuri Giants 1-0 in the Tokyo Dome that afternoon!

I began Day 2 of my Tokyo birding with a visit to the uber-dramatic Imperial Palace. The grounds were not yet open, but I found some great life birds nearby!

I should pause at this point and say that besides wanting to see Japan’s birds, I had another ulterior motive for birding. When we left Montana, my life list stood at 968 species—perilously close to 1,000. Maybe, just maybe, I thought, I can crack 1,000 while in Japan. In fact, looking over what I might see, I felt fairly confident about meeting that goal—something that spurred me to take advantage of every opportunity.

**Falcated Ducks were a new species I studied before heading to Japan. After seeing them on Day 2, I had no idea this would be the only time I’d see them on the entire trip.**

On the third full day of our adventure, Tessa and I planned to head over to Tokyo Disney to try to score tickets. We did get some and visited the Disney Sea park—but that’s another story. More important, we stopped at perhaps Tokyo’s best birding location, Kasai Rinkai Park. As we got off the train, the reason this park is birdier than others seemed evident: it is one of the few Tokyo locations with remotely natural habitat. Tessa got some of her now-favorite milk tea from a vending machine and settled in to draw on a bench while I hurried off to see what might be living there.

I had not yet met any Japanese birders, but a couple of hundred meters down the trail, a woman with binoculars and a camera saw me looking for birds and silently pointed into reeds next to a pond. “Arigato gozaimasu,” I whispered and crept toward where she was pointing. Sure enough, a half a dozen small brown birds were gleaning seeds and once again, my study paid off. They were Reed Buntings—birds I had hoped, but not expected, to see!

I left my good camera at home for this trip, opting for a lighter “travel camera” that unfortunately didn’t produce the sharp bird images I craved, but I was still delighted to get a photo of this male Reed Bunting who is obviously shouting something important at me.

Continuing down the trails I made more discoveries including Japanese Tits and Masked Buntings, both also lifers! Then, walking along the water, I spotted two suspicious shapes about one hundred meters offshore. As I grew closer, the shapes resolved into what has to be one of Earth’s most gorgeous, elegant water birds, Great Crested Grebes!

**Despite this lousy photo, you can probably get an idea of why I was so excited to see my first Great Crested Grebes!**

As I went back to meet Tessa, I was happy with what I had found, but I also knew I had missed some important species here that I would probably not get a second shot at. These included Azure-winged Magpie and any kinds of shorebirds. No matter. I felt grateful for this look at Japanese nature and optimistic for the days to come!

Sneed’s Kasai Rinkai Park eBird checklist.

March Madness Birding in Missouri

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Congratulations to our loyal follower Roger Kohn for notching his 300th Life Bird this week—and a Golden Eagle no less! Way to go, Rog, and may it be just a prelude to a great spring birding season!

I can’t believe we didn’t post the entire month of February. Nonetheless, we appreciate your loyalty and devotion, and believe it or not, we picked up our 100^th subscriber in the last few weeks. We should have more than that, but Russian hackers led to a subscriber catastrophe some years back. No matter, we are glad to have you with us.

But back to the lack of posts, we’ve had solid excuses. Braden has been studying hard for a tough group of science and math classes this semester while I’ve been laboring to complete two new books and get them turned in. Mission accomplished! I celebrated by heading off to the Children’s Literature Festival in Warrensburg, Missouri. It was my “dozenth” or so time there, and this one proved particularly delightful, with more than twenty authors speaking to thousands of kiddos over the course of two days. This trip was made even more delightful by the fact that I roped several of those authors into joining me for a birding excursion!

**The University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg provided a friendly, intimate setting for 54th Children’s Literature Festival—the first full festival since Covid!**

My one complaint about the literature festival is that it always happens before spring migration hits Missouri. Undaunted, I led authors Padma Venkatraman and Samantha Edwards, and Samantha’s husband, Jason Tucker, to Cave Hollow Park this past Sunday morning. Braden and I had birded the park many years back, but before we really knew what we were doing. We’d seen only a handful of species and had left disappointed. This time, I hoped for a better result—and was richly rewarded!

Working the woods that lined the large grassy areas, our intrepid crew saw—and heard—Northern Cardinals and Eastern Phoebes. Then, an American Kestrel flew over, not to be outdone by Red-bellied Woodpeckers, a Northern Flicker, and one of our biggest surprises, a Pileated woodpecker. Of the three woodpeckers, I discovered that the Red-bellied is definitely the most common in the Show Me State. That seemed wonderfully strange for a guy accustomed to Downy Woodpeckers holding down the top spot!

The trip to Missouri was my first opportunity to test my new Panasonic “travel camera” and as you can see from this Northern Cardinal, I didn’t really know what I was doing. Am hoping I’ll get to share better photos with you soon!

We continued our excursion, venturing into the park’s wooded trail system. This is where Braden and I had pretty much struck out before, but today our group was pleased to encounter Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, and a surprise White-breasted Nuthatch. For the first time, I also recognized the “Fee-bee” call of an Eastern Phoebe. “Ah,” I told my companions, “that’s how they got their name.” To my satisfaction, my companions loved our outing, as did I. While we didn’t see anything rare, I don’t often get a chance to enjoy the birds of the East, so it was a special treat to get out there on this sunny, crisp morning. It was also great to have such enthusiastic company!

**My intrepid fellow birders and I were excited to discover some of the “hollows” for which Cave Hollow Park is named (Left to right: Padma Venkatraman, Samantha Edwards, and her husband, Jason).**

I was so pumped that I woke early the next morning and birded the woods right next to our hotel. I had barely set out when I saw eight or ten sparrows close by. The yellow above the eye made me at first think “Savanna Sparrows.” Then I realized with excitement that they were White-throated Sparrows—a species that wasn’t even on my radar! More surprises followed with a look at a Song Sparrow and Turkey Vulture. Then, I heard an even bigger surprise—a Carolina Wren. That afternoon, I bumped my Missouri Life List to 31 species when a Red-shouldered Hawk landed on a lamp post next to the hotel as I and my friend and fellow author, Roland Smith, returned back from work. I ended the trip more than happy with my March Missouri birding . . . but that doesn’t keep me from dreaming they’ll one day move the festival to April when the full flush of spring songbirds will be moving through!

I’m not sure why, but White-throated Sparrows just make me happy. I hope you’re getting to see some wherever you are! Fun fact: President Teddy Roosevelt especially enjoyed listening to White-throated Sparrows on the grounds of the White House!

Advance Warning: You will most likely have to endure another lengthy delay before our next post as I (Sneed) is about to embark on a major trip. The good news is that I will be traveling to a country I have never been, and I can almost guarantee that your patience will be rewarded!

Birding and Books: Sneed’s New Picture Book, BORDER CROSSINGS

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My new picture book, Border Crossings, was inspired by Braden’s and my amazing trips birding along the U.S.-Mexico border. Order now through your local bookstore or directly from Charlesbridge Publishing.

Watch the book trailer for Border Crossings now!

If you ever doubt how inspiring birds are to people, just look at the incredible bird-related creativity writers, artists, and photographers pour forth into the world. I plead guilty to be among their ranks as birds have inspired at least half a dozen of my books and countless articles. Sometimes, though, birds themselves are not the topic. Instead, my pursuit of birds gives me another idea. Such is the case with my new picture book, Border Crossings.

**From *Border Crossings*, illustrated by Howard Gray**.

During the past seven years, Braden and I have been fortunate to be able to bird along the U.S.-Mexico border at least four times: twice in Arizona, and once each in Texas and California. These trips have been among the most inspiring of our birding lives, not only providing glimpses of hundreds of remarkable birds, but introducing us to the rich human culture that spans the border region. When our former president announced plans to build a steel barrier the full length of our border, it rang alarm bells for numerous reasons. For one thing, it seemed a giant slap in the face to Mexico, a country we depend on and take advantage of in many ways. I also worried how a wall would impact the myriad animal species that regularly cross back and forth across the border.

San Bernardino NWR is one of many places we birded in 2016 that was wall-free. Now, a giant steel barrier both prevents many animals from moving freely through their natural home—it directly endangers several officially listed endangered fishes. **To read about that click here.**

Though we humans have drawn an artificial line separating the U.S. and Mexico, the fact is that continuous ecosystems run through this remarkably biodiverse region. In these ecosystems, animals routinely cross back and forth from one country to another. Many do this in the course of their daily routines while others cross mostly during annual migrations. The steel “bollard” wall, however, has gaps only four inches wide—small enough to exclude hundreds of animal species. Even some birds—think game birds, roadrunners, and Ferruginous Pygmy-owls—probably turn back from this monstrosity. That’s not to mention javelinas, pronghorn, tortoises, hares, wolves, and dozens of other larger animals. Clearly, in their rush to build a political statement, no one in charge gave wildlife the slightest thought.

One of many Arizona border communities that was wall-free during our 2016 trip is now permanently divided by an ugly barrier—one that is doing untold damage not only to these communities but to wildlife.

Border Crossings is my attempt to raise awareness of this important issue. To illustrate the dilemma, the story follows two ocelots. These beautiful wild cats live in both Texas and Arizona as well as Mexico, and I decided to show the plight of one that is free to cross the border without obstruction—and one that is blocked by the imposing steel barrier. I was fortunate that my publisher hired the talented Howard Gray to illustrate the book. His remarkable illustrations really bring the story to life and, I hope, make readers young and old think about the often catastrophic consequences of simple-minded solutions.

One problem I had writing the story is that wall construction proceeded at breakneck speed even as we were going through the editing process. On our last trip to Arizona, in fact, Braden and I were dismayed to see this ugly barrier stretch across several regions that had been beautifully wall-free during our previous trip in 2016. Rather than trying to rewrite the story, I explain the situation in the backmatter. Realistically, I don’t see the wall coming down anytime soon, but I hope Border Crossings will help create momentum to at least build numerous wildlife crossings through it. If you’d like to make a difference, share your concerns with your U.S. Senators and Congressmen. As great men have stated in the past, only if we stay silent can tyranny—and in this case, horrible ideas—triumph.

FatherSonBirding

Sharing the Passion of Birds and Birding